In his first interview since Eon’s recent Bond 21 announcement, Casino Royale’s director, Martin Campbell has delivered some tantalising hints of what we can expect in 007’s new cinematic adventure.

Martin Campbell

Talking to New York Daily News, Campbell, who previously helmed Pierce Brosnan’s debut Bond flick GoldenEye, strongly reinforced the “back to basics” approach Casino Royale will take.

According to Campbell, the new film will take the storyline from Fleming’s original novel - his first - and tweak it for a 2006 audience. “There are things that will have to be changed from the original novel. The Cold War elements will have to be reconfigured, for example, but Casino Royale will be a grittier, tougher and more realistic Bond movie. We’ll be getting away from the huge visual effects kind of films.”

Perhaps the biggest revelation from Campbell is that Casino Royale will take James Bond back to his early 007 days (a similar idea was floated during pre-production on The Living Daylights). However, CBn can confirm that the movie will not be a period film.

“In the new film, Bond is essentially starting out in his career, and has just recently become part of the double-0 section,” Campbell said. “The idea is to put a bit of the dash back in Bond. By the end of the movie, the character will have been forged into the wiser, harder Bond we know.”

The interview touches on Bond’s romance with Vesper Lynd from Fleming’s novel, one of the most unique of the series. “The door is open for Bond, emotionally. He’s in love with Vesper and he sees there’s another side to all of this, that life might be far more pleasurable, more gratifying, than being a secret agent. And ultimately that door is slammed in his face, which makes him the tempered steel kind of guy that we know. I’m looking forward to humanising Bond a bit.”

Campbell also spoke of the infamous torture sequence, for which Fleming’s Casino Royale is arguably most well-known. “I don’t know what we’re going to do about that. It ranks up there with the teeth-drilling scene in Marathon Man,” Campbell said, referring to the 1976 film starring Dustin Hoffman and Marc Lawrence (of Diamonds Are Forever and The Man With The Golden Gun).

As Campbell winds up production on The Legend of Zorro, and begins the press junkets for the film, expect Casino Royale to be a hot topic!

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